Spray device for washing machines



Dec., 4, 1951 F. G. WALKER 2,576,982

SPRAY DEVICE FOR WASHING MACHINES Filed Jan. l5, 1950 F/Gl/ /NVENT/f? FRANK 6. WALKER Patented Dec. 4, 1951 UNITED ASTA'I'ES PATENT OFFICE SPRAY DEVICE' FOR WASHING MACHINES Frank. G. Walker, Minneapolis, Minn.

v Application January-13, 1950",l Serial No. 138,344

8 Claims.. (Cl` 239-.-69);

This. invention relates to, improvements; in a sprayr device for a washing machine. and, more particularly; for a. dish. washing machine. The invention especially lends itself tothe efficient washing of` large culinary and baking articles such4 as steam. table, baking and roastingv pans, However', the use thereof' is. not restricted to dish washing machines adapted` for washingV such. specifically enumerated culinary articles.V

Considerable dilliculty has been experienced heretofore in providing an eflicientv and easily operable bearing for the rotatable sprayl head of a dish washing machine. One difficulty has been that bearings heretofore used develop. a considerable amount of friction during operation. Therefore, if the spray head and bearing were designed so that. rotation thereof could be readily started, the speed of rotation of the spray head during normal operation was. too` great to produce desirable washing eiciency.

Another difficulty has been that, if the bearings were mountedv internally of the water dis.- tributing means, grit andy other entrained: abrasive materials within the Washing solution would become lodged between the relatively moving surfaces of the sprayA head and bearing and would either impair the bearing surface. so as to cause leakage or cause additional friction and retard the operating speed of the spray head.

Still another difliculty has been that, for any purpose it was desired to removev the rotatable spray head soas, for example, tol repair it or in terehangeit for a different type oi spray head, it hasheretofore been necessary to` disassemble aconsiderable amount of the bearing structure inl order to free the spray head from itsv bearing 'so as t0 be able tol replace either the same head or` another one within said bearing.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome these difficulties by providing an extremely simple and -durable rotatable spray head and a supportingbearing therefor, said bearing being constructed so as to present a minimum amount of* friction, wherelovAA the rotation or the spray head can easily be started when Water pressureis furnished thereto, and the operating rotational speed of the heady is ase slow as desired for ellicient dish or utensil washing.

Another object of the invention is toprovide yieldable sealing means. betweenV the relatively movable partsA off the rotatablev spray/ head.' and its: l'aear'lng,v saidf sealing meansy serving to.l accommodate grit ory otherI abrasivey material. entrained inthe. washingV solution in such a manner as. not to` score the. surface of the' bearing materially and also permit yieldable engagement between the. relatively moving: parts 0f the spray head and its. bearing so as to? provide` substantall water tig-ht engagement between said moving parts..

Still another objectofthe, invention is; to so constructy the rotatable movement of the spray head and its bearing so; that, the. spray head may be removed from the bearing simply by lifting the spray head fromY the bearing', no other disconnection of any components of. the spray head or bearing being required to accomplish such removal.

A still further object of the invention is to so construct. the bearingv and the rotatably supported portions: ofthe spray head that, when the spray head is4 being rotatedy due to the force of the water being discharged therefrom, thev head will substantially iloat relative to the bearing, thus minimizing. the. amount of force required to rotate the spray head and also reducing wear between: the relatively moving surface of the spray head and its bearing,

Details of these.` objects and of the invention, as well as other objects thereof are set forth in the. following specication and illustrated in the accompanying drawing comprising a Partthere.- of.

In the drawing,

llgurev l is a vertical side elevation` of an exemplary dish' washingv machineembodyingy the principles of. the present invention, part. of said machine being broken; away better to illustrate `details; of said invention..

Fig-ure:r 2 is: a top` plan view of a. rotatablev man..-` iiold spray head positioned in its bearing and embodying; the principles of the present invention.

Figure. 3 is. a side elevation, partly in section. of the spray head and bearing Shown in Fig. 2,.

Figure 4 vis a fragmentary side elevation` of one of the sprayl nozzles or ports provided in the spray heady illustrated. in. the other figures.

In .the present illustration, an exemplary dish 55 preferably is provided with Vsuitable crossbars 20 ing l0. spray mechanism described hereinafter is conwhich are arranged so as to hold the pans or other culinary articles or dishes positioned within the tray so as to be readily engaged by cleaning sprays projected upward against them. Any suitable means such as legs on the rack may be used to support the rack alone above the bottom of the casing I0.

While not shown in the present drawing, it is readily understood that the casing I may have suitable stationary or movable sprays mounted adjacent the top l2 thereof, whereby cleansing sprays may be discharged against the uppermost surface of the dishes or culinary articles held within the rack I6. In many types of conventional dish washing machines, these top sprays are stationary since, usually, the bottoms of dishes or culinary articles such as pans do not require as much washing as the interior thereof as the bottoms of the dishes and pans are seldom extensively soiled. Hence, the major amount of washing function' is directed to the interior of the dishes or pans when held within the racks I6 in the exemplary manner illustrated in Fig. 1. It is also to be understood that the washing solution sprayed against the articles within the rack I6 drains into a suitable sump, not shown, in the lower part of the machine and from here it is usually recirculated by a suitable pump, also not shown, in accordance with the conventional practice so as to economize on the use of hot water and cleansing agents.

In the exemplary illustration shown in the drawing, the spray directed against the interiors of pans I8 are produced by the following mechanism. A supply pipe 22 is connected with a suit- ,able pump, not shown, for purposes of feeding Washing solution, under considerable pressure, to the spraying mechanism to be described. If desired, the supply pipe 22 may also be used to feed overhead sprays in the upper portion of the cas- A horizontal pipe 24 which supports the is a hollow first T head 26, details of which are shown especially in Fig. 3. The stem 28 of said T head is directlyA connected to'pipe 24 and the vtransverse head of the- T 26 has a passage 30 extending therethrough as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

The passage 30 is preferably disposed with its axis in a vertical operating position. The upper end 32 of the T head 26 comprises a thrustl bear- "ing for purposes to be described. The lower end of the T head 26 is preferably slightly constrict'ed on its interior surface so as to provide a cylindrical bearing surface 34 having a somewhat smaller diameter than the interior bearing surface 36 at the upper end of the T head 26.

Rotatably supported within the upper end of `vthe first T head 26 is a second T head or T .manifold 38', the stem 40 of which is rotatably mountfed within the upper end of rT'head 26 as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Said stem is also provided with an annular laterally projecting ange 42 arranged rotatably to engage the upper end 32 of T head 26, especially when the manifold T 38 is not being rotated. The stem 40 of the T manifold 38 is also provided with an annular groove 44 which receives a resilient collar 46 that is preferably formed from good quality natural or synthetic rubber such as Neoprene The outer diameter of the collar 46 closely conforms to the diameter 4of the interior bear- 36. -48 and collar 52 thereon is less than the outer ing surface 36 of T head 26, whereby the T manifold 38 may readily rotate relative to the T head 26 without producing any substantial friction, especially when the rubber becomes wet during use. The wet rubber will substantially eliminate any friction between the closely conforming surface of the collar and interior bearing. Further, the yeldable collar 46 will function to permit grit or other abrasive material entrained within the washing solution to become embedded within the rubber so as to materially reduce, if not completely eliminate, any possibility of any grit or abrasive material scoring the bearing surface 36. It has also been found that the water applied under pressure against the lower portion of the collar 46 will serve to spread said collar outwardly into closely sliding, but substantially frictionless, engagement with the bearing surface 36 when the collar 46 is wet during use. Thus, an effective seal is provided between the T manifold 38 and the upper'end of T head 26.

A pistonlike closure 48 is rotatably mounted within the bearing 34 in the lower yend of T head 26. The closure 48 is also provided with an annular groove 50 in which is seated a collar 52 Aformed from material and functioning similarly to the collar 46. The closure 48 is fixed to the T manifold 38, so as to be rotatable therewith, by any suitable means such as a rod 54. When water is introduced to the T head 26 through the stem 26 thereof, water pressure will be exerted against the inner surface of closure 48 and water will also travel upwardly through the upper end of the T head 26 in a direction opposite to the force exerted against closure 48, through the stem 40 of manifold T 38, and in opposite directions into the branches 56 of the manifold T 38 as clearly shown by direction arrows in Figure 3.

As has been stated above, the diameter of `bearing surface 34 is less than that of bearing surface Similarly the outer diameter of the closure diameter of stem 40 and collar 46 thereon. The difference in diameters is such that the pressure exerted against the inner surface of closure 48 will approximately equal or be very slightly greater than the force exerted by the water in passing upward through stem 46 of manifold T 38. Under these conditions, the manifold T 38 `will substantially oat relatively to the T head 26 and, the aforementioned diameters can be so related for any given pressure of water entering the stem 28 of T head 26 that the ange 42 of manifold head 38 will barely engage the upper end 32 of T head 26 when the spray head, comprising manifold T 38 and spray arms 58 connected to the branches 56 of said manifold T 38, is rotated.

Inasmuch as the bearing surface 36 is either equal to or preferably greater than the bearing surface 34 in T head 26, it will be seen that the manifold T 38 and its assembled-spray arms 58 -may be removed quickly andreadily from the .T

head 26* merely by lifting the manifold T 38 ing 36, without requiring any other disassembly or manipulation of any of the components of the entire device.

Each of the spray arms 58 is provided with .a plurality of spray discharge ports 6D which are -formed so as preferably to discharge a Avertical spray which will flare out to a certain extent as shown inFig. 1. Spray from these ports will,

'for example, primarily bedirected against the striscione# highest' portions of the interiors cfthe pans-f If' for'A example, as the manifold 1" 381 rotates; Eacharmis also provided substantially centrally there-4 cfwi-t-h` an outlet nozzle- 62'; details= of'which are best shown in Fig. ll". Sprayv ports 64- are formedY `inL opposite sides of` nozzles- 62' andg t-he axes-"of theports 64- are such that theyy will discharge-sprays angularly spaced apart, forexample, as much as 135", whereby they are-directedaga-inst the-lowermost edges and interior portions ef the pans- |8 as shown in Fig. 1. These ports-may also-ex-h tend ataslightangle toonesideof a verticali plane through arms 58- in a manner to rotatably drive the spray head about its-vertical axis. Thenoz-zles i52-arealso-each-providedwith a spray port 66- whichextends at a slight angle-fromthever-- tical' axis of the nozzle 62, the axis of the port- 66 in one nozzle 62, however, beingincli-'ned op positel-y to the axis` of the port 661 in the other` nozzle 62 so as to` cause rotation off the spray' head about the axis of passage 30.- 'Il'lus, if oner of` the ports 64 or 655 should-v become-momentarily clogged, the force of sprays-fromtheother ports Will rotate the spray' head.

I'n-v-iew of the limited amount of'l friction` exist ing between the manifold T 38- and 'F head 26', as- Wellas between closure it` and T head 2B; theA angle between theports 66 and said` verticalplane through the spray head'`v need notbe: great for' purposes of initiating rotationof the` spray headrelative' to the T head.- 25- after pump has been` started for purposes of furnishing Washing solution under pressure to the T head 2B. After the spray headbegins to rotate the drivingforce exerted by the sprays exiting through the various ports 54 and 66 will serve to rotate thel spray head comprising manifold T 38 and. arms- 58 at a relatively slow speed', such speed however being determined by the anglesbetween said ports and a vertical plane through the spray head. Sprays 6U may be partially intersected by the sprays from ports ad and thereby create a par--` tiallv somewhat turbulent spray which will-v serve to thoroughly cleanse theinterior surface of dishes or culinary articles against' which the sprays are directedas the spray head rota-tes.

Culinary articlesA such as steam table, baking or roasting pans frequentlyhave food materials such as gravy more or less thickly accumulated on and firmly adhering to the surfaces of such pans, and particularly the interior thereof', whereby it is generallydiflcult to` thoroughly cleanse such firmly adhered substances'from the surface of' said pans. In order to facilitatethe cleansing of' such` pans, it' has been found advantageous to apply spray solutions at considerably higher pressures than is normally used in conventional dish washing machines. Thus, when washing culinary articles such as the pans referred to above, ithas been found that such pans are washed satisfactorily when using. washing solutions delivered to the spray head at pressures of between and 30 pounds per square inch, or even as high as 35 pounds per square inch. The structure described and illustrated herein readily is capable of utilizing washing solutions furnished at suchy pressures and the functioning of the device under such pressures is as described herein above.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the present invention provides an extremely simple, inexpensive and durable spray head fora washing machine adapted to wash dishes and various types of culinary articles other than dishes such as cooking utensils and steam table, baking and roasting pans. Thelrotatable spray: headmay' beleasily and quickly removed and replaced withoutl requiring the manipulation or separation of any components of the device prior to removing: the spray head from its-bearing by a` simple` lifting operation. An inexpensive, yet highly effectivesealing means is provided between. the relativelyy movable surfaces off the spray head andi the T head within which the manifold: type sprayl head rotates, said` sealing means also serving: topermitgrit. and particles of otherV abrasive ma terial to'. become. embedded4 therein so. asi to pre:-

vent scoring: the metallic bearing4 surface of thel T head which rotatably supportsz the spray head. Said sealing: means. is also inexpensive. andmay bequicklyand easily: replaced; when worn beyond;

further use. However, in view of: the factA tha-ti such sealing means affords substantially nofric4 tion relative to the metallic bearing surface. of thel supporting T headv when rotating relative. thereto while wet` under actual conditions ofoperation. wear of such sealing, material occurs-very, slowly. The; manifold spray,v head of the device is also.- provided with a pistonlike closure, means whichA serves to maintain the spray head in rotatableoperative position and the spray pressures developed within the supporting T head of the-Y device are such` that they substantiallyl bala-nce each other in opposite directions so as to provide: a floating action between the spray head. and the T head rotatably supporting-l the same; The construction isy also such that rotation of ther spray head is easily started and the. speed of. rotation of the head during operation is relaA tively slow so as to produce a highly effective spraying action for cleaning the surface of dishesl and other culinary articles while the spray headmoves relative to the same during the rotation ofv the spray head.

While the invention has been illustrated and' described in its preferred embodiment and has included certain details. it should be understood that the, invention is not to'- be limited. to the; precise details herein illustrated and described since the same may be. carriedY out in other ways, falling: within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim. as my invention:A

l. A spray device for a washing machine com prising a hollow T positioned with its headl extending substantially vertically and its stem coninectible with a water supply, a spray arm. pro vided intermediately of its ends with a laterally projecting' inlet rotatably mounted axially of. and communicating with the upper end of the head. of said T, said spray arm being' provided with` spray discharge ports arranged to rotatably drive said.l arm as spray is discharged therefrom, and' a piston-like closure rotatably mounted with-in the lower end of the head of said T and fixed tov said spray arm for rotation therewith 'relrntive to said head of said T. l

2. A spray device for a washing machine conn prising a head having a water passage extending therethrough and a water inlet intersecting said' passagev intermediately ci the ends. thereof, a hollowl T having its stem rotatably communicate ing with one end of said passage, spray arms projecting in opposite directions to each other from the branches of said T, said spray arms being provided with spray discharge ports arranged to rotatably drive said T as spray is discharged therefrom, and a closure for said passage rotatably mounted therein adjacent the othars'raeeev er end thereof and xed to said T for rotation therewith relative to said head.

3. A spray device for a washing machineoomprising a head having a water passage extending therethrough and a water inlet intersecting said passage intermediately of the ends thereof, a hollow T having its stem rotatably extending Within and communicating with one end of said passage, spray arms projecting in opposite directions to each other from the branches of said T, said spray arms being provided with spray discharge ports arranged to rotatably drive said T as spray is discharged therefrom, a piston-like closure for said passage rotatably mounted therein adjacent the other end thereof and fixed to said T for rotation therewith relative to said head, and a yieldable collar surrounding said closure and rotatably engaging the inner surface of said passage.

4. A spray device for a washing machine comprising a head having a water passage extending therethrough and a water inlet intersecting said passage intermediately of the ends thereof, a hollow T having its stem rotatably extending within and communicating with one end of said passage of said head, a laterally projecting ange on said stem rotatably engageable with said head, spray arms projecting in opposite directions to each other from the branches of said T, said spray arms being provided with spray discharge ports arranged to rotatably drive said T as spray is discharged therefrom, a piston-like closure for said passage rotatably mounted therein adjacent the other end thereof and fixed to said T for rotation therewith relative to said head, and yieldable collars surrounding said stem of said T and said closure, said collars rotatably engaging the inner surface of said passage to prevent the passage of any appreciable amount of water between said surface and collars.

5. A spray device for a washing machine comprising a head having a water passage extending therethrough and a water inlet intersecting said passage intermediately of the ends thereof, a hollow T having its stem rotatably extending within and communicating with one end of said passage of said head, a laterally projecting flange on said stern rotatably engageable with said head, spray arms projecting in opposite directions to each other from the branches of said T, said spray arms being provided with spray discharge ports arranged to rotatably drive said T as spray is discharged therefrom, a piston-like closure for said passage rotatably mounted therein adjacent the other end thereof and fixed to said T for rotation therewith relative to said head, said closure and stem of said T having annular grooves in the perimeters thereof, and renewable yieldable collars disposed within said grooves, said collars rotatably engaging the inner surface of said passage to prevent the passage of any appreciable amount of water between said surface and collars.

6. A spray device for a washing machine comprising a head having a water passage extending therethrough and a water inlet intersecting said passage intermediately of the ends thereof, a hollow T having its stem rotatably extending Within and communicating with one end of said passage of said head. a laterally projecting flange on said stem rotatably engageable with said head, spray arms projecting in opposite directions to each other from the branches of said T, said spray arms being provided with spray discharge ports arranged to rotatably drive said T as spray is discharged therefrom, a piston-like closure for said passage rotatably mounted therein adjacent the other end thereof and fixed to said T for rotation therewith relative to said head, and yieldable collars surrounding said stem of said T and said closure and rotatably engaging the inner surface of said passage to prevent the passage of any appreciable amount of water between said surface and collars, the diameter of said closure being no greater than the outer diameter of said stem of said T, whereby said T and spray arms may readily be removed as a unit from said head axially of said one end of said passage thereof.

7. A spray device for a washing machine comprising a head having a Water passage extending therethrough and a water inlet intersecting said passage intermediately of the ends thereof, the inner diameter of said passage being smaller at one end than the other, a, hollow T having its stem rotatably extending within and communicating with the end of said passage having the larger diameter, spray arms projecting in opposite directions to each other from the branches of said T, said spray arms being provided with spray discharge ports arranged to rotatably drive said T as spray is discharged therefrom, and a piston-like closure for said passage rotatably mounted within the end thereof having the smaller diameter and fixed to said T for rotation therewith relative to said head.

8. A spray device for a washing machine comprising a first hollow T having its stem connectible with a Water supply and its head extending substantially vertically in operative position, a second hollow T having its stem rotatably extending within and communicating with the upper end of the head of said first T, a flange surrounding the stem of said second T rotatably engaging said upper end of said head, spray arms projecting in opposite directions from the ends of the head of said second T and provided with water discharge ports arranged to rotatably drive said second T and arms about the axis of said first T as spray is discharged from said ports, and a piston-like closure rotatably mounted within the lower end of the head of said first T and fixed to said second T for rotation therewith relative to said head of said first T.

FRANK G. WALKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

